I did not expect to live in such an unusual moment. br When the God of thunders and of rocky heights, br The Lord of hosts, Kyrios Sabaoth, br Would humble people to the quick, br Allowing them to act whatever way they wished, br Leaving to them conclusions, saying nothing. br It was a spectacle that was indeed unlike br The agelong cycle of royal tragedies. br Roads on concrete pillars, cities of glass and cast iron, br Airfields larger than tribal dominions br Suddenly ran short of their essence and disintegrated br Not in a dream but really, for, subtracted from themselves, br They could only hold on as do things which should not last. br Out of trees, field stones, even lemons on the table, br Materiality escaped and their spectrum br Proved to be a void, a haze on a film. br Dispossessed of its objects, space was swarming. br Everywhere was nowhere and nowhere, everywhere. br Letters in books turned silver-pale, wobbled, and faded br The hand was not able to trace the palm sign, the river sign, or the sign of ibis. br A hullabaloo of many tongues proclaimed the mortality of the language. br A complaint was forbidden as it complained to itself. br People, afflicted with an incomprehensible distress, br Were throwing off their clothes on the piazzas so that nakedness might call br For judgment. br But in vain they were longing after horror, pity, and anger.